SLHTA funds steel pan training

The Saint Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association (SLHTA), on Tuesday February 16th, made a monetary contribution to the Cultural Development Foundation (CDF), in support of the organization’s capacity building efforts.

The handing over took place at the SLHTA office on Rodney Bay where Yola St. Jour, Finance and Administration Officer (SLHTA) presented Celeste Burton, Director for Training, Promotion and Development (CDF), with the cheque amounting to twenty-six thousand and fifty dollars ($26,050.00).

The grant will fund the 2016 steelpan training, one of CDF’s focus areas for development.

In 2015 the CDF conducted two categories of training in steelpan: Music Theory and Steelpan Tuning. Music Theory Phase II was designed for participants who had previously completed Phase I and Music Theory Phase I welcomed a new cohort of participants in the southern communities. Steelpan Tuning was open to representatives of all steel-pan orchestras island-wide.

These steelpan training programs are decentralized to reach communities around the island and ensure equal opportunities are provided for youth who are out of school, un-employed, and for ‘rural’ communities.

Funding from the SLHTA will ensure that sixty-five (65) participants in July and August, 2016 complete training in the categories highlighted.

This year, forty (40) youth will be facilitated at two (2) training sites where the focus will be on Music Theory I and II.

It is hoped that twenty – five (25) aspiring pan tuners island-wide will benefit from the Pan Building and Tuning workshops.